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Outram Park MRT Station
|other = Bus, Taxi|structure = Underground|platform = 6 (3 island platforms, 2 U/C)|levels = 4 (2 U/C)|tracks = 4 (2 U/C)|parking = No|opened = 12 December 1987 (East West Line) 20 June 2003 (North East Line) 2020 (Thomson-East Coast Line)|electrified = Yes|ADA = Yes|operator = SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation)|zone = 1|platforms = Island}} Outram Park MRT Station is an interchange station of the North East Line and the East West Line in Singapore. It is located in the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. Before Tiong Bahru was refurbished in 2006, it was the last MRT station that had Chinese characters on its station livery on the East West Line (heading towards Joo Koon). Opening in 2021, Outram Park will be a triple-line interchange station with a new line, Thomson Line, similar to Dhoby Ghaut. Location One of the more prominent areas it serves (in addition to the district of Outram) is Chinatown. Although the present Chinatown station is now closer to Chinatown, this station was the closest MRT station within the vicinity of Chinatown before the North East Line was built. It is just beside Pearl's Hill Reservoir and Pearl Bank Apartments. Its location in the Central Area puts the station in proximity to a number of public buildings. These include the Singapore General Hospital as well as multitude of public health buildings under SingHealth, including the Singapore National Eye Centre, the National Heart Centre and the National Dental Centre. It also within walking distance to the Central Narcotics Bureau and the Police Cantonment Complex. History A plaque relating the history of the Outram Park prison can be found outside of the station. The prison no longer exists as residential blocks (HDB) have been built where the prison once stood. In the initial stages of planning for the North East Line in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, this was initially planned to be the southern terminus of the line. But in 1993, the LTA decided to extend the NEL to HarbourFront Station (then called World Trade Centre Station), after noting that many people liked to go to the World Trade Centre (the present day HarbourFront Centre). The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on 30 August 2012 that it will acquire the Pearl's Centre for the construction of the Thomson Line. It will be torn down and a high-density, mixed-use development is coming to the place. The Thomson Line will run under the building. 243 tenants including Yangtze Cinema will have to move out. The Singapore Land Authority said it will be compensated according to the market value according to the properties. In 2013, Pearl's Centre owners received ex-gratia payments to mitigate the financial impact of the acquisition exercise, according to Singapore Land Authority. The owners asked for high compensation earlier, who had in turn had the possibility for the en-bloc sale. The construction of the station (T222) was awarded on 27 May 2014 to Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd at a cost of $300 million. As one of the top construction and engineering companies in Korea, Daelim has undertaken numerous subways and high speed railway projects in Korea, e.g. Daegu Metropolitan Railway, Seoul Subway and Honam High-Speed Railway. Daelim is one of the construction companies of the Marina Coastal Expressway. Outram Park station will be an interchange station connecting the Thomson Line with the East-West and North East Lines, allowing commuters to enjoy connectivity between the northern, central, eastern and western parts of Singapore. Train disruptions On 15 March 2012, more than 117,000 commuters were affected during a peak hour train breakdown between Dhoby Ghaut and HarbourFront, caused by faulty overhead power cables at the tunnel of the Outram Park that had snapped. A second problem was discovered relating to electricity insulation, delaying the service further. Train services resumed at 4.35 pm after nearly 10 hours of disruption making it the third breakdown in 4 months. Subsequently, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) intends to impose financial penalties amounting to S$400,000 on SBS Transit for the train service disruption along the North East Line on 15 March 2012. On 10 January 2013, train services in both directions on the North East Line was disrupted due to a power fault. At about 9.50 a.m., SBS Transit said no train service is available between HarbourFront and Outram Park. Train services fully resumed at 4.35 p.m. Bomb hoaxes 2007 bomb hoax: A false bomb threat call was made in 17 August 2007 at 11.16 pm from a public phone located at the concourse of the MRT station and the police arrested two suspects on 24 August 2007 when a 13-year old boy was turned in by the police while his 15-year old friend was arrested not long after. Upon consultation, the younger of the two was let off with a warning while the older of the two was charged in a Juvenile Court. 2008 bomb hoax: On 29 July 2008, a man made a phone call to the police about a false bomb threat at 1.07 pm at the concourse area of the station. The man is believed to be in his 40s and is of fair complexion. He was wearing a blue and white polo T-shirt, beige Bermudas and black slippers. He was seen leaving the MRT station with two plastic bags – one red and the other white. Police shooting incident The North East Line sector of the station was the site of a rare police shooting incident, in which a 43-year-old Lim Bock Song, who had earlier fatally stabbed odd-job worker Tan Ah Chang at a coffeeshop at Jalan Kukoh, was shot by a police officer after threatening the officer with the knife on 6 March 2008 at 3:35 pm. Four platform screen doors in the centre in the direction of HarbourFront were affected due to the police cordon which lasted two hours and passengers had to use other doors to board and alight. However, train services were unaffected. A coroner's inquiry conducted for the shooting of Lim Bock Song ruled on 12 January 2010 that the shooting was a case of justifiable homicide. The man was shot after charging at police officer Azli Othman with a knife. District Judge Yeo ruled the shooting was without any criminal intent. Station layout Outram Park is built directly underneath the convergence of three roads: Eu Tong Sen Street, Cantonment Road and Outram Road. The station has four basements and is not a cross platform interchange so commuters have to transfer from one platform to another via an underpass, since the North East Line was not built until much later. This station features artwork from two different artists. The first, The Commuters by Teo Eng Seng, can be found at the linkway between the East West Line platform and the North East Line platforms. The second, Memories by Wang Lu Sheng, are placed at the entrances leading to the North East Line part of the station. Concourse Although there is an underground connection between the paid areas of the East West Line and the North East Line parts of the station, there is no connection between their unpaid areas. Therefore, a passenger exiting from an East-West Line train going to a North East Line exit should use the paid area connection to go to the North East Line concourse and exit the fare gates there. Alternatively, the passenger can exit from the East West Line exit and walk to his desired destination, crossing the traffic junction where necessary. Platforms All platforms are served by a set of escalators, stairs and lifts which connect to their respective station concourses one floor above. Both EWL and NEL stations are linked by a transfer linkway at Basement 3, which connect to the EWL platforms at one end and the NEL concourse at the other end. During the NSEWL western area closure, as the train will terminate at Outram Park MRT Station, it will turn at the middle track west of Outram Park MRT Station. This was being used from December 1987 to March 1988, and from May 2008 to July 2014 (SMRT Lunchtime Xpress). Customers may still board at Outram Park westbound platform when they chase people out at the station, but do not post your experience on the Facebook or YouTube, to avoid jail sentences. Exits The East West Line used to have its own atria. The main atria is where Timothy Mok used to go from the Health Promotion Board and Singapore General Hospital all the while in 2007 and 2008. Exit F is also used as well. Nowadays during the Lee Kuan Yew’s ICU from 5 February 2015 to 23 March 2015, Exits A and B were also used. Exit G connects to the Police Cantonment Complex, where the construction began in January 1999. It began to move in on July 2001, and the exit was completed ahead of the schedule. Passenger Usage Patterns Transport connections Rail Gallery Image:Outram Park NEL Interchange, Entrance, Dec 05.JPG|Entrance to Outram Park MRT Station at New Bridge Road. Image:Outram Park MRT link.JPG|Underpass link between the East-West and North-East line. References External links * SBS Transit's Outram Park MRT station official website * Category:Bukit Merah Category:Outram, Singapore Category:Tanjong Pagar Category:Chinatown, Singapore Category:Railway stations opened in 1987 Category:Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations